Console on April 10, 2007, in Japan and on May 14 in North America. Europeans, Australians, and New Zealanders were able to purchase the game as part of "Hanabi Festival" on September 21. The PC Engine version was released for Virtual Console in Japan on April 21, 2009. The NES version was also released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, with an original release date set for November 8, 2012, but was delayed until December 13. The NES version was released on Wii U's Virtual Console in 2014. The game was also re-released as part of the NES Classic Edition dedicated console in November 2016, and for the Nintendo Switch in December 2018 as part of the NES: Nintendo Switch Online service. Related media In July 1990 Scholastic Corporation published a novelization of Ninja Gaiden under the Worlds of Power series of NES game adaptations, created and packaged by Seth Godin under the pseudonym F. X. Nine. Godin and Peter Lerangis, under the pseudonym A. L. Singer, wrote the novelization. As with the other Worlds of Power books, the amount of violence present in the video game was toned down in the novelization, because Godin and Scholastic were concerned that some of the material in the video game was inappropriate for a young audience. The novel did not adhere strictly to the game's storyline; for instance, the ending was changed so that Ryu's father survived. Godin believed the revised ending was consistent with the Worlds of Power character. As real-life fathers Godin and Lerangis were reluctant to leave Ryu fatherless. On the book's cover, otherwise a copy of the North American box art, the kunai held in Ryu's front hand was airbrushed out, leaving him prodding the air with an empty fist. Pony Canyon released a soundtrack CD, Ninja Ryukenden: Tecmo GSM-1, in February 1989. The first half of the CD starts with an arranged medley of the game's music. It continues with enhanced versions of the game's music which used stereophonic sound and additional PCM channels. The rest of the CD features music from the arcade version. In 2017, Brave Wave Productions released a vinyl box set, Ninja Gaiden- the Definitive Soundtrack, mastered by original composer Keiji Yamagishi. Reception Critical reception The game debuted at No. 3 on Nintendo Powers Top 30 list for July–August 1989, behind Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Super Mario Bros. 2; it